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Difference between Pansexual and Bisexual

Key Difference: Bisexual is someone who is attracted to both genders, be it a man or a woman. A pansexual is a person who is sexually, romantically or emotionally attracted towards people regardless of their sex or gender identity.

Pansexual and Bisexual are two different terms that refer to sexuality. The most common terms that people are aware of is heterosexuality and homosexuality. Heterosexuality is the most common, hence leading many to label it as “normal” or “the norm” Heterosexuality is when a person is sexually attracted to someone of the opposite sex. For example: a man attracted to a woman, and vice versa.

Homosexuality can be defined by its prefix ‘homo’ which comes from the Greek word ‘homos’ which translates to same. Hence, homosexuality in the most basic definition refers to someone who is sexually attracted to a person of the same sex, i.e. a man is attracted to a man, and a woman is sexually attracted to a woman.

Bisexual has the prefix bi- which is derived from Latin and mean ‘two’. Hence, bisexual roughly mean ‘two-sexual’. Bisexual is someone who is attracted to both genders, be it a man or a woman. However, bisexuals often receive a lot of negativity as they are often untruthfully labeled as someone who is confused or someone who is still trying to make up their minds about whether they are attracted to men or women. Nonetheless, people who themselves associate as bisexuals say this untrue as there are many people who associate themselves as bisexuals through the entirely of their lives, even if they choose not to be open about it.

However, speaking about sexuality, it must be recognized that gender and sex are who completely different things. While most people associate as the same gender as their sex, not all do. Sex is how the body is physically designed depending on what body parts each person has. Yet that does not that the person will associate as that gender as well. This is where a person is physically a man associates as a woman, or a person who is physically a woman associates as a man.

A pansexual is a person who is sexually, romantically or emotionally attracted towards people regardless of their sex or gender identity. Basically, they love everyone regardless of labels and without discrimination. Many people who associate as pansexual claim that they love a person for their personality, for who they are regardless of what organs they have or what gender they associate as. They often refer to themselves as gender-blind, i.e. someone who doesn’t notice or care about gender or sex.

Comparison between Pansexual and Bisexual:

Pansexual

Bisexual

Definition (Oxford Dictionaries)

Not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity.

Sexually attracted not exclusively to people of one particular gender; attracted to both men and women.

Description

Pansexuality, or omnisexuality, is the sexual, romantic or emotional attraction towards people regardless of their sex or gender identity.